The Next ‘Pokemon’ Games?

Pokemon GO! fascinates me.

If you don’t know what GO is, just visit a park and watch the ‘nerd herds’ pursuing Charmanders or Rhyhorns all the while burning up their mobile data plans. GO is simply geocaching with a lot of cool actions, sounds and incentives.

It’s a fascinating thing to witness, be a part of and comment on.

As I said earlier, I believe it’s the Woodstock of an entire new generation. Someone said, ‘but oh, Woodstock was much more of a cultural and sociological event that was seismic in its influence.’ I get that. I really do. But I wasn’t there. Nor were a lot of other people (even though they said they were).

And look at the game again: Pokemon GO! isn’t a massive seismic event in the world of technology? I mean EVERYONE of a certain age or level of tech-appreciation is participating, unlike Woodstock where only a few hundred thousand were there but everyone says they were.

Unfortunately, it’s inevitable that it will burn out. At least the current version.

As companies around the world try to leverage the massive influx of users to the world of artificial reality (AR), here’s my prediction of what we should expect (maybe demand?) next for AR-related games:

An expanded GO universe. Don’t you think the powers that be are working new lists (possibly in the thousands) of related GO characters and events?)

Star Wars. You’ll no longer have to go to a ‘galaxy far, far away’ to battle some of your favourite characters like Darth Vader, Lord Palpatine and Kylo Ren. Or choose to join the ‘Dark Side’ when you sign up and go around town beating up on Luke, Leia, Han and younglings. Or just randomly capture Jawas, getting revenge for all the harm they did to droids on Tatooine.

Lego minigfigs. The universe of Lego minifigs is massive, so don’t be surprised if you can start collecting them, building cool stuff in AR and sharing your creations in real time.

Star Wars AND minifigs! Enuf said.

Comic book heroes / villains. Again, similar to Star Wars, where you could go around battling heroes or villians, depending on which side you choose.

Educational programs. Booo! Why did I make this boring all of a sudden? Consider it a public service announcement where I make a pitch for all of these sites, relics, works of art and other STOPS being a little more informative and skill-testing in order to collect certain awards. Educators of the world actually have an enormous opportunity here to make school interesting.

Travel. Imagine collecting information in real time and earning points for your activities. The builder of this AR app could make massive amounts of money by pitching different ways to draw collectors to unique locations or events in different cities. It would be a game-changer for the tourism business.

So there’s 7 wicked ideas about creating AR universes for getting people off their butts … again.